Block laying guide



Feb. 27, 1951 AR|N| 2,543,716

BLOCK LAYING GUIDE Filed March 29, 1948 JOHN A. CARINI Patented Feb. 27, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BLOCKLAYING GUIDE John A. Carini; South Glastonbury, Conn.

. gADIlliOfltiOllzMfil'Gh-Zti, 1948,'Serial No. 17,721

i 3 Claims. l This invention relates. to. masons tools general. More particularly. this invention relates to block, brick or tile laying guides.

.An obj ectofthis invention is to. provide a block laying guide that. enables persons with substantially-no experience to lay blockslin a professional manner.

Another .object of this invention is to provide a block laying guidev such that parallelism and substantially exact linearityof the block course may be maintained.

Still anotherro'bject o'f'this invention is to ,provide a block laying guide that insures substantially equalspacing. both laterally and vertically in a'block course to provide substantially uniform block facing.

A further object; of this invention is .to provide a block, laying guide that may be .us'edLwithout altering orv disturbing block placementlwhen once set. 1

Still .a. further object. of this invention is to provide a block laying guide that may be readily adapted to gauging varying mortar thicknesses desired between the blocks.

. Other and further objects'o'f this invention will" fessional manner and maintain parallelism and linearity of the block course. This invention also enables a person using it to space the blocks substantially equally and to-control the mortar thickness required without di-fiiculty.

This device is made up of an elongated body member that is adapted tobeplaced substantially horizon-tally along the upper edge of a laid foundation course of blocks. Attached to this body memberand extending substantially at right angles thereto "are provided two 'or more rod-like members that are'adapt'ed to lay'on the upper surface ofthe laid course of blocks and these rod-like members areof a thickness corresponding'tO the :thicknessof the mortar desired tobe placed on the upper surfaceof the laid course of blocks. These' rd 1ike :members are inter-- changeable. withi-other rod-like members of dif ferent thicknesses so that different thicknesses of mortarmaybegaugedi. Extending from the lower surface of the elongated body member are-two or more substantially vertical sections, each of a length corresponding more or less to the height or thickness of a block or to the thickness of several bricks and these sections are adapted to engage the outer surfaces of the laid course of blocks or bricks when the elongated body member is. supported along the upper outer edge of the laid course of blocks or bricks by the rod-like mortar gauging members.

;-Extending from the upper surface of the elongatedtbody'member. are-.two'or more vertical memhers provided for the purpose of guiding the laying of. the next-course of blocks or bricks. A spacer-arm provided for the purpose of spacing the. .end of. one block or brick from the adjacent end of another block or brick is pivoted to a member attached to one end of the elongated body. :The spacer arm extends both above and below the center, of the body member in such a manner that the spacer arm may be interchangeably used in. one pivot hole or the other for laying a course of blocks either. from the right or left. This operation then necessitates that the guide shall'be-inverted to change the direction of progression from one side to the other.

c-Other'ieatures of this invention will be set forth'hereinafter in the detailed description of thedraw-ingpin which briefly Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the application of this block laying guide to the construction of a brick orblock wall; Figure 2 is a sectional view showing this .device in position on a partially constructed wall; and Figure 3 is a view showing structural details of thisdevice.

-;Referring to the drawing in detail there is illustrated in Figure 1 a View of the application of'this block laying guide to'the laying of a course of block upon a previously laid course. The elongated body member ID of the device is positioned alongside of one of the top edges of the laid course of block I! and is held in this position by a pair of rod-like members l2 attached thereto'at spaced points. These rod-like members 12 are made of a thickness correspond ing to the thickness of the r-mortar Ila desired tobe placed over the top surface of the laid course of-block ll. Furthermore these members l2 may be supported on the body member I8 in suitable holes in which the ends of the members are held by a threaded fastening to enable quick interform diameter or .theymay be fashionedwith front and back ends having a diameter corresponding to the desired thickness of the mortar, while the center between these ends may be of a lesser diameter such as would reduce the frictional drag and enable withdrawal with less effort and a minimum of disturbance to the positioned block.

A pair of depending member H! are attached to the lower surface of the elongated member l and these depending members are provided for the purpose of lining up the body member In with the side of the laid course of block H. For this purpose the members l3 are rigidly attached to the bod H] at right angles thereto so that the surfaces M of the members l3 are coplanar with the surface l5 of the body [0. Likewise the upright members l6 that are rigidly attached to the upper surface of the body are provided with surfaces I! that are coplanar with the surface l5 of the body It).

The surfaces I4 of the depending members l3 are placed against the side of the laid course of block II and the rod-like members l2 are placed on the top surface of the laid course of block. The pivoted spaced arm [8 is swung down to its horizontal position and the device is moved toward the end I [0 of the top block so that the outer face of the spacer arm l8 abuts this end He. Mortar Ila, is then placed on the top surface of the laid course of block II to a depth corresponding substantially to the thickness of the rod-like members [2. Another block llb shown in dotted outline in Fig. 1, is then placed upon the mortar so that its side abuts the surfaces I! of the upright members l6. Care must, of course, be taken to see that the surfaces M of the depending members l3 abut the side of the laid course of block while the block is being positioned against the surfaces I! of the upright members l6 so as to obtain a straight wall with the individual blocks thereof parallel.

As mentioned above spacer arm I8 is pivoted to the support I9 that is attached to one end of the body member II], to gauge the spacing between the adjacent ends of the blocks. This spacer arm I8 is also interchangeable with other spacers of different thicknesses so that the spacing between the adjacent ends of the blocks may be changed if desired. This will provide spacing to correspond with the proper size of rods to be used where so necessary. After the desired space is provided between the adjacent ends of the blocks, the spacer arm l8 may be swung on its pivot 2| out from between the blocks so that mortar may be placed between the blocks or it may be left in its horizontal position until the device is withdrawn from the wall. The levels 23 positioned in the handle 22 are employed for leveling the guide body I ll longitudinally and adjusting the vertical members I! so that these are plumb.

After the blocks are positioned in proper relation with respect to the laid course, the devicejs withdrawn by means of the handle 22 that is attached to the body member 10 and,the guide is then placed on the laid course of block in the successive position for the correct placement of the next and following block. I

While I have described this invention with respect to certain embodiment thereto in detail, it is of course understood that it is not,desired to limit this invention to the exact details described except in so far as they may be set forth in the following claims and except as so far as the. invention may be limited by the prior art.

I claim:

1. A block or brick layingguide for use in laying blocks upon a previously laid course in the construction of a Wall comprising an elongated body member, rod-like members attached to,one side of said body member at spaced points and disposed substantially at right angles to said body member, said rod-like members,being adapted to rest on the top of the laid course of blocks to measure the thickness of mortar to be placed on the laid blocks for the next course of blocks, and guide members extending up and down from said body member when said body member is in horizontal position along side of the said laid course of blocks to guide the laying of the next course, and a spacer member pivoted at the end of said body member to measure the spacing between the end of one block and,the adjacent end of the next block.

2. A block or brick laying guide for use in laying blocks upon a previously laid course in the construction of a wall comprising an elongated body member, means attached to one side of said body member at spaced points to rest n the top of the laid course of blocks for measuring the thickness of mortar to be placed on the laid blocks for the next course of blocks, and guide members extending up and down from said body member when said body member is in horizontal position along side of the said laid course of blocks to guidethe laying of the next course, and a spacer member pivoted at one end of said body member to measure the spacing between the end of one block and the adjacent end of the next block.

3. A block or brick laying guide for use in manually laying individual blocks upon a previously laid course in a construction of a wall comprising an elongated member having a flat block engaging surface and having a width substantially less than that of the blocks, a pair of thilLrOdlike members attached in holes formed in said flat body member at spaced points such thatsaid rod-like members extend to one side of said body member at right angles thereto, said rod-like members being adapted to rest on the top of the laid course of blocks to hold the fiat surface of said body member vertically with respect to the front face of the laid course of blocks, the thickness of said rod-like members corresponding substantially to the thickness of mortar desired on the top of the laid course of blocks, a plurality of elongated guide members extendin up and down from said body member when said body member is in a horizontal positionto guide the laying of the next course of blocks, each of said guide members having upper and lower fiat surfaces that arecoplanar with the flat surface of said elongated body member, the lower flat surfaces of said guide members being adapted to abut surfaces of the front face of the laid course of blocks when said body member is in horizontal position along the top edge of the laid,course of blocks, and said upper flat surfaces of said guide members being adapted to abut the front face of the block being positioned on the mortar on the top of said laid course of blocks for guiding the positioning of this block, and means cooperating with the respective rod-like members for holding said guide members and said body member in assembled relation.

JOHN A. CARINI.

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